Swine plague threatening to kill all pigs in Russia - minister
VOLGOGRAD, Russia. April 1 (Interfax) - Russian pig farms risk losing all their pigs because of an African swine plague outbreak that has hit several Russian regions, the agriculture minister warned on Friday, saying her ministry would seek the replacement of pig breeding with the raising of other animals.
There are two tasks facing the Agriculture Ministry and regional authorities - combating African swine plague and having animal farms give up pig breeding and focus on other animals, the minister, Yelena Skrynnik, told a meeting in Volgograd.
"If we don't start carrying out these tasks this year, the forecast is negative - we have a very serious chance of losing all our pigs," she said.
The disease has hit southern Russia hardest, and there have been African swine plague cases in the Leningrad, Orenburg and Nizhny Novgorod regions as well.